TV Schedule Suggestions, Casey to-do list

TV schedule released (PDF). Schedule came out and some people are moaning how a lot of the games are on TSN2. To those people I say to stop moaning and get on the internet for live streams. You get to pick home or away commentary and browse reddit at the same time. This is a win-win situation. If you insist on watching it on TV and feel the extra 8 bucks a month (or whatever it is) is too much to pay, I suggest cutting back on your milk and/or pizza intake to make up the monetary difference. Also remember, that for every $1 you page to Rogers, $0 gets donated to sick kids in Africa so it’s going to a good cause.

I’ve never mentioned this but the one thing I REALLY like about Dwane Casey is that he spells his name the way its pronounced. He doesn’t get all fancy with Duane, Dwayne, and Duwayne, and keeps it simple. Credit to his parents for being sensible people and not insisting on giving their kid exotic names just so they feel like they’ve done something with their miserable life. I hate to drop a cliche but here it goes: he really has his work cut out for him this year. Let’s take a quick peek:

Improve the offense while benching the more potent offensive point guard. Kyle Lowry is a sweet find, but he still lags behind Jose Calderon in terms of passing ability, awareness, and shooting. From being here for so long, Calderon’s familiar with every players’ offensive tendencies, and taking him out of the lineup for Lowry – who has known to have tunnel-vision at times – is going to have its drawbacks. Then again, last year the offense was 29th in the league so it can’t get much worse, right?

Turn Terrence Ross into a reliable three-point shooter by designing offensive sets that utilize him correctly. Given the paucity of three-point shooting on the roster, Ross’ contribution in that department will be counted upon and it’s up to Casey to get him integrated.

Manage expectations for Valanciunas because right now too much is being expected of him, partially because of the wait time. I mean, being picked #5 and stashed away in Europe, followed by talks of “he would’ve been #2 in this draft” hasn’t helped. From what I’ve seen of him, he’s quite raw in terms of offensive skill and as much defense translates to the pro-level, I do see him getting abused on many a night this year.

It’s Year 4 for DeRozan and he’s played 35 mpg the last two seasons. I’d like to know, as would Casey, whether he’s going to be a J.R Smith, a Joe Johnson, or a Sonny Weems. I hate to put this on Casey, but it really is up to him to find out whether DeRozan is a player who the franchise wants to hang on to or to discard. Decision coming up next summer.

Prove the doubters wrong about Landry Fields and show us that he’s more than James Johnson with a jumpshot.